Sunday, July 5, 2015

Hot On The Trail South (Clermont, FL)

Actually, we are cooling our heels in Central Florida while waiting out a good part of hurricane season before traveling to Key West.  And to tell you the truth, our heels are not cooling either since we are spending every day walking around the park, or in stores, or in state parks.  Florida has been hot and humid with mid 90s, but feels more like 102+ degrees.  So we walk early in the mornings and again in the evenings if there are no thunderstorms.

Site near Peace River

Speaking of thunderstorms, they have some big boomers here.  Lightning so close that the light and thunder are together causing Sandy and cats to jump.  We had one last night with two fronts meeting over our area.  We spent the evening watching the dark clouds come together from different directions with the winds shifting.  It has been awhile since we have seen such storms develop.
We like outside...we go outside now?
The cats have been enjoying their time here. They beg to go out every couple of hours.  Dusty (far right) even begged Sandy one night around 3 am by trotting up to the door and crying.  When she did not follow him, he came back and started over again.  "Ah come on!  Nice outside!"
pygmy rattlesnake behind our motorhome sleeping near the woods
We walk around our site to make sure there are no unpleasant visitors for our cats to play with...especially the snakes.  
our latest entertainment - Sandhill Cranes
The Sandhill Cranes usually alert and walk away if they see our cats.
They ignore us as long as we don't get too close.  Sandy tried to shoo them away one day so the cats could come out and they did not budge from their prime spot under the tree. "Silly woman.  Is she trying to fly?"
Most of the time, we enjoy watching them while they hunt for food which seems to be 24/7.
Plenty of lakes, swamps and rivers to view in Central Florida.  It is a very peaceful area when we are away from the more populated areas.  Many of the campers in the area have some kind of boat or water related gear packed onto their cars and rigs.  Definitely a water world area.
We also visited Downtown Disney for a change of pace.  We found it was a great way to experience Disney fun without paying parking fees or entrance fees.
We spent most of the time wandering around and window shopping.

We have visited a few state parks.  The photos below are from Paynes Creek Historic State Park
Suspended bridge in Paynes Creek Historic SP
 There was little left of the historic sites, but walking the trails were interesting and the bridge was fun to cross.
We were told there had been sightings of alligators, but we did not see a single one.  Maybe they are on holiday and went to the beach for a change of pace.  Nothing like a good salt bath!  ;)
A couple of milestones were recognized since our last post:  this is our 6th year on the road with no thoughts of slowing down our travels and.......we celebrated our 40th Anniversary! 
Dan and Sandy 1975
We will start moving farther south around mid-August.  Our plans are to be in Key West by September(?) even though we know it is still hurricane season until the end of November.  It is nice to experience Key West before the busy tourist season starts in December/January.  Last year, the snowbirds arrived quite a bit earlier, probably due to the extreme winter season.